Apple's Steve Jobs commemorates signing of Calif. organ donor bill

California Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger signed into law this week a new organ donor registry, and one of its biggest proponents — Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs — was on hand for the event.

Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 1395, which will make it easier for California residents to become an organ donor, and creates the nation's first living donor registry for kidney transplants. According to Stanford Medicine's Scope blog, Jobs spoke at the event and said the law will save thousands of lives each year.

"It's good for everyone," Jobs reportedly said. "The donor's family knows their loved one is making it possible for others to live. Talented surgeons can save the lives they've trained to save. Recipients are given the gift of an extended life... As a transplant recipient, I know how precious this gift of life is."

At Tuesday's event, Schwarzenegger thanked Jobs for his efforts in promoting the passage of Senate Bill 1395, which will create the California Living Donor Registry to help connect those who want to donate with people who ned a transplant.

The law makes it mandatory for California residents to accept or decline the option of becoming an organ donor when they renew their drivers license. Under the old system, residents had to affix a pink sticker to their license — a step that Jobs felt hurt donations.

In 2009, Jobs underwent successful liver transplant surgery at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He said there weren't enough livers in California, which forced him to look elsewhere.

A year after his surgery, Jobs was back at work full-time, with his presence on the company's Cupertino, Calif., campus a common occurrence. The CEO had taken a leave of absence from his company in January due to 2009 due to health issues that, at the time, he insisted were a private matter.

He returned to work part-time that summer, and even took to the stage at Apple's annual music event in September 2009, where he introduced new iPods. The Apple co-founder gave a short introduction in which he acknowledged his road to recovery and said he was gracious for the liver he received from a person in their mid-20s who died in a car crash. The event was Jobs' first public appearance in nearly a year.

Well, they are his organs so he's entitled to his opinion, and I think to a non judgmental response by other.

I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc. etc. Of course I don't know how streamlined all these are in the states.

Still, it's a shame if something happens and there are intact organs that go to waist.

It would be interesting if you could specify what kind of demographic your organs should go to, in order of priority of course. And why shouldn't you?

Well, they are his organs so he's entitled to his opinion, and I think to a non judgmental response by other.

I am not currently living in the states but I would hesitate to sign an organ donor release for fear of the impact it might have on my family. When you lose a loved one it's hard enough to have doctors taking him in and out of surgeries to take the organs, or the bureaucracy associated with that, the extra wait to take the body to it's final resting place etc. etc. Of course I don't know how streamlined all these are in the states.

Still, it's a shame if something happens and there are intact organs that go to waist.

It would be interesting if you could specify what kind of demographic your organs should go to, in order of priority of course. And why shouldn't you?

Anyway knock on wood on all that.

Still, it was a simplistic comment. For example, did it occur to him that maybe one or two of the people in prison didn't do anything? Check with Illinois on that one.

But I do agree with what you're saying - and I'd surmise that people who aren't living donors or recipients ( or family of those people) don't fully grasp the emotional and psychological complexity of organ donation.

Still, it was a simplistic comment. For example, did it occur to him that maybe one or two of the people in prison didn't do anything? Check with Illinois on that one.

But I do agree with what you're saying - and I'd surmise that people who aren't living donors or recipients ( or family of those people) don't fully grasp the emotional and psychological complexity of organ donation.

I agree on all points. I just read that in the UK there was some research done recently and even with those who are donors, the bereaved families more often than not object and manage to block the process long enough for it to be too late. Only when the death occurs in the hospital do they really stand a chance of harvesting organs. The number per day dying in the UK because of lack of organs was three (best as I can recall).

This needs to be stressed ... the emotional reaction when family learns the lack of a donor will result in the death of a their loved one. If people could imagine or try to imagine that feeling they may be more willing to donate or allow those that chose to donate to do so.

What did Steve do to promote this bill?
I don't recall seeing anything anything apart from a few very short comments about transplants after his return.

That bill has been sitting on some senator's desk for years because he couldn't get any support for it. After his transplant Steve talked to Maria Shriever and asked her to talked to her husband about the bill and then Arnold and Steve talked about it. Steve pushed for this bill to be signed by the Governor. I guess if it wasn't for Steve this bill would've continued to sit on a desk collecting dust for who knows how many more years...

This is a big deal actually. There is a serious shortage of organs especially in CA and with this bill passed this will greatly increase the number of organs available and save a lot more lives.

Steve is lucky he is rich and he was able to go all over the country to get checked in as many hospitals and be listed in as many organ recipient waiting list. Regular people cannot afford to do what Steve did coz Insurance companies will only pay for beneficiaries to be listed in one place.